Home Archive

Archived Content from the Home Page

This page just contains some old, outdated announcements, just for the purpose of archiving.

Instructors: For Spring 2014

For Spring 2014, you have the choice whether to use Blackboard or Canvas (or nothing) for your classes. We recommend Canvas.

After July 2014, we will no longer have access to Blackboard. For Fall 2014, plan on using Canvas for all your courses.

Students: For Spring 2014

Depending on your teachers, some of your classes may be on on Blackboard and some of your classes may be on Canvas.

Announcements

October 16, 2013 - Canvas Training announced

Oct 16. We've posted a Training Schedule for Fall 2013.

August 20, 2013 Update - Setting up your course on Canvas or Blackboard

Aug 20. We've posted some information about setting up your Fall 2013 on Canvas or Blackboard. See More Details.

August 15, 2013 Update - Students Don't Yet Have Access

Aug 15. Instructors have access to Canvas (mainly for learning and experimenting), but students won't have access yet. See More Details.

August 14, 2013 Update - All Fall 2013 Courses on Canvas!

Aug 14. Good news! We've uploaded all Fall 2013 courses on to Canvas, so you can begin to create your courses there. Log in at http://canvas.biola.edu with your Net ID (same username and password as my.Biola). Although you have access, students won't yet see the courses. We intend to keep most courses "unpublished" (hidden from student view) so that you can feel free to experiment and learn Canvas. If you want to actually use Canvas for real this semester, let us know (we'll come up with some process for you to request that your class be "published" and live to students). We'll be more specific and post some more instructions here in the next few days.

August 7, 2013 Update - Almost ready

Aug 7. We are almost ready to let you begin using Canvas. We've got all instructors' accounts created, so you can actually already log in at this link, but you won't see any classes yet. You can look around and do a few things like change your profile picture, but you won't yet see any classes. Soon, we'll have the domain http://canvas.biola.edu set up - that will be the main login page to bookmark later. We're setting up the final connections between Banner and Canvas, and hope to have classes visible to you on Canvas by about August 15th.

Using SafeAssign during Transition

Aug 7. During our transition from Blackboard to Canvas, we will still be using the SafeAssign system for plagiarism detection. See more details here.

July 16, 2013 Update - Still planning structure & naming conventions

July 16. We aren't quite ready to create users and courses on Biola's Canvas site yet. It might not be until the first part of August. I know many of you are anxious to get started, so I want to keep you informed of our progress. We had another productive meeting with the Canvas people this morning in which we learned more... (Read More - See Full Announcement)

Early Adopters - Using Canvas for Fall 2013?

July 11, 2013. We are delighted that many faculty are wanting to be early adopters of Canvas. We will be giving all faculty a Canvas class shell for their Fall on campus classes so you can begin experimenting with the system and transferring course material from Blackboard. For those of you that have the time and ability to do this in time for your Fall 2013 classes we will... (Read More - See Full Announcement)

Biola's Canvas Site now live! (biola.instructure.com)

July 9, 2013. Our Canvas site is now live, at http://biola.instructure.com/ - so we (the administrators) can begin setting things up: adding users and classes. Instructors will probably be able to log in by the end of next week. Also, we're planning to use the sub-domain canvas.biola.edu as the more permanent address for Canvas.

Email from Pat Pike and Ron Hannaford (Announcing Transition to Canvas - July 2, 2013)

Over the next 12 months, Biola University is transitioning to Canvas Learning Management System (LMS) and away from Blackboard. Biola has been actively researching various options to meet the growing needs of the university, and during Interterm and Spring 2013 terms faculty from Talbot, the School of Education, and Crowell School of Business taught classes using Canvas. Faculty and students provided extremely favorable feedback with their Canvas experience... (Read More - See Full Announcement)

Tentative Schedule for Transition from Blackboard to Canvas

June 28, 2013 - Biola signed a contract with Instructure, beginning a 13-month transition period from Blackboard to Canvas. We will still have access to Blackboard until July 31, 2014.

July or August, 2013 - We will set up test versions of Fall 2013 classes on Canvas.

During Fall 2013, most classes will still use Blackboard. All instructors will have access to a test version of all of their classes on Canvas (which students cannot see). This will allow faculty to begin to learn the new system. A few early adopters will use Canvas for their classes rather than Blackboard. If you are interested in using Canvas during Fall 2013, please let us know with this online form.

During Interterm 2013 and Spring 2014, we will encourage faculty to use Canvas rather than Blackboard for their courses.

For Summer 2014 classes, all classes should be on Canvas. Blackboard may be used in special circumstances if the class ends before July 31, 2014.

For Fall 2014, Canvas will be the only option. Blackboard will be unavailable after July 31, 2014.